First off, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who made it out to the AVC (or followed it on the internet). Despite the unsavory weather, the turnout was great and the event was the best yet! We have about 50 GB of video and a few thousand photos to sort through. We'll be posting up a full recap with photo and video later this week. Today, we are going to be talking about a cool project from SparkFun customer Andrew Frueh - the GardenBot.

If you're anything like me, gardening doesn't exactly come as second nature. My thumb is decidedly not green. This system, which Andrew has named GardenBot, is an entire gardening network that monitors your soil and creates charts that allow you to see the world the way your plants do.

The entire system is built around "modules" - things like "The Brain," "Garden Station," and "Soil Moisture Sensor." Each module has a specific function, which allows you to build a custom system for your needs. You could potentially implement a "Soil Moisture Sensor" module with a "Water Valve" module and have your plants watered only when they need it.

I’m working on something similar too - please get in touch (gmail - evan.j.davey) if you would like to share ideas. Here’s a
quick writeup of my very basic working prototype. http://www.getoutsideandlive.com/2011/03/self-contained-aeroponics-prototype-system/.
I’m waiting for a few solenoid valves to arrive and then I’ll begin working on a central nutrient distribution system that will do ph, water level and nutrient measurements / adjustments.

My favorite part is the ungrounded, non waterproofed 110V AC power turning on the water solenoid. What could go wrong?
Andrew: For the love of god, switch to a low voltage isolated system with a ground fault isolator. The LAST thing you want is for someone to electrocute themselves with this.
Other than that, it looks great! I love how well you documented each component.

So technically this is just a big Botanicalls system but instead of constant plant complaints your plants can take care of themselves, And instead of a single houseplant it can monitor and respond to your entire lawn and landscaping.

This is right up my alley. These are the applications I designed the PygmyWEB board for. It can be seen at: www.pygmy-os.com
Sorry if the web-page is a bit sparse, I’ve had too much on my plate working full time and developing the OS and teset platforms like the PygmyWEB. Anyhow, very cool topic.

Sorry, I didn’t explain much since I didn’t want to sound like some politician or conspiracy theorist. There is plenty of water from the North. In California, water is heavily privatized. Irrigation in Northern California turns up less profit than manufacturing and residential use in Southern California. Read this.

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